Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah captures fifth Sealine Rally title in six years
Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah, Dubai-based English rider Sam Sunderland and Chile’s Ignacio Casale emerged unscathed from the final 350.94km selective section of the Sealine Cross-Country Rally to confirm memorable victories in the car, motorcycle and quad categories at Losail.
The final stage was won by the rally runners-up, Yazeed Al Rajhi, Pablo Quintanilla and Rafal Sonik, but they began the fifth section too far behind to realistically challenge for victory and the stage wins were minor consolations.
Al Attiyah recorded a second outright win with Overdrive Racing and the Toyota Hilux in the space of four weeks and a fifth win in six years.
The triumph marked a third successive win for his French navigator Matthieu Baumel and gives the entire team a comfortable lead in the FIA World Cup after three rounds.
The X-raid Mini All4 Racing crew of Yazeed Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk won the final stage and finished 12min 03sec behind the Toyota.
“It was a good day for us. This is an important win in Qatar,” said Al Attiyah. “I’m quite happy. It was good to control the race all the way. We had the speed if we needed it. After two races I’ve 120 points. Now we prepare ourselves for the smaller races. To win at home is fantastic.”
Chilean Pablo Quintanilla made Sunderland work mightily hard for the second biggest win of the talented young Englishman’s career.
The Chilean started fifth on the road, passed three of his rivals and then caught Sunderland to halve the overnight deficit. Neither rider could afford the slightest mistake over the closing nervy kilometres and Sunderland held on to give KTM a fifth win in Qatar in six years by the margin of 9min 38sec.
“It was really good. It has been a lot of work over the last six months to come back after the broken femur,” said 27-year-old Sunderland.
“I missed Dakar and sitting at home watching was really a tough time for me mentally and physically. I’m really happy. The team has been so supportive through all this time and I owe everything to them. It’s been a tough race, fighting with Pablo all week, and it’s not been easy. I knew he was going to catch me today. I could relax a bit and then we rode together to the finish.”
Quintanilla secured a comfortable second overall, Yamaha’s Helder Rodrigues rounded off the podium and Bolivia’s Juan Carlos Salvatierra and Husqvarna’s Pierre Alexander Renet were fourth and fifth.
